Semi-finals set at World Junior Curling Championships 2025

Scotland and Korea are the final teams to join Norway and Italy in the men’s semi-finals, whilst Sweden and Canada secured their spots alongside Korea and Germany in the women’s.

Men’s competition

Scotland became the third men’s team to earn their place in the semi-finals in the morning session. Despite a 6-7 loss to Switzerland, their winning record so far meant they mathematically qualified.

By the ninth end Switzerland led 7-3, but Scotland skip Orrin Carson played a hit to score three points, 7-6. Scotland conceded in the tenth end when they couldn’t generate a steal.

Scotland’s Orrin Carson © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The win was bitter-sweet for Switzerland’s third player Leon Wittich who said, “We played a really solid game today, and it feels good to end on such a high note, even though the tournament didn’t go as we had hoped. However, even if we didn’t achieve the goals we set for ourselves this week, this outcome in the last game adds a slightly positive spin.”

In Scotland’s final round-robin game, they redeemed their morning loss with a 5-3 win against Germany.

Korea claimed the final spot in the semi-final when they beat Italy in their final round-robin session. By the tenth end, the score was equal 5-5. With their final stone, Italy played a draw right to the button, but a perfect double takeout by Korean skip Kim Daehyun removed both of Italy’s scoring counters to win the game 6-5.

Following their win for qualification, Kim Daehyun said, “We couldn‘t believe the result. We did our best and got a good result, so we’re very satisfied with that.”

Korea’s skip Kim Daehyun reacts to making the game winning shot against Italy © World Curling / Céline Stucki

Japan faced Canada in the evening session, who were in contention for a spot in the semi-finals. However, in a tied tenth end, Canada’s stone crashed on a Japanese guard, and they missed their chance to draw for one and secure their play-off place. Japan stole the final point and claimed the 8-7 win.

Japan versus Canada © World Curling / Céline Stucki

Italy claimed their seventh win in a row against United States in the morning session 8-3.

United States played their final game against Norway, who will play in the semi-final on Sunday. Norway beat United States 12-8.

The first draw of the day saw Denmark play their final game, in which they beat Japan 9-3.

Women’s competition

Sweden and Canada became the final teams to quality for the play-offs, joining Germany and Korea, who qualified yesterday. Sweden’s (6-3) round robin results confirmed their status whilst Canada’s (5-4) spot was determined through their draw shot challenge.

Canada secured their spot in the semi-final after they beat Norway 9-2. After two blank ends, the first point of the game went to Norway. However, in the fourth end, skip Allyson MacNutt played a draw to score four points and give Canada a 4-1 advantage. By the eighth end, the score sat 6-2 in favour of the Canadians, and they went on to confirm this win when MacNutt played another perfect draw to score a further three points and win the game.

Team Canada © World Curling / Céline Stucki

It was a must-win game for Sweden against Japan to secure their semi-final spot. After the seventh end, Sweden had a one-point lead, 4-3. In the tenth, Sweden skip Moa Dryburgh played a take-out to clear the centre of the house with her penultimate, running through Japanese out of stones to win, 7-4.

After the game, Dryburgh said, “I’m so happy that we finally got over the line. It was four years ago when we last made it into the play-offs. Now I’m just happy about it and proud of the team.”

Switzerland played China in their final game, with China winning 10-3. China scored two points in both the first and third ends, while Switzerland managed only one point in the second. After China extended their 6-3 lead with four more points in the eighth end, Switzerland accepted that a comeback was out of reach and conceded the game.

Meanwhile, both Korea and Germany had already secured their semi-final places the day before, but this game would determine who took the number one seed. The ninth end finished with a narrow 9-8 lead for Korea, but Germany had the hammer. Germany played an in-off takeout for a game-winning two points, 10-9.

Germany’s Kim Sutor © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Germany skip Kim Sutor said, “I wouldn’t say that being the top seed leads to more pressure in the play-offs, because we know that every single team plays great curling. It doesn’t matter what place you’re in heading into the play-offs, because all scores are reset, and you either win or lose.

Germany, who placed first in the standings (7-2), will take on fourth place Canada (5-4), whilst second place Sweden (6-3) will face third place Korea (6-3). Both games will take place on Sunday, 20 April at 11.00.

The teams that have currently been relegated to the World Junior Curling Championships B-Division are:
Women: Norway (seventh place), Japan (eighth place), Latvia (ninth place) and Italy (tenth place).
Men: Canada (seventh place), Switzerland (eighth place), United States (ninth place) and Germany (tenth place).

Relegation will be confirmed upon announcement of World Junior Curling Championships 2025 host.

Click here for all the results, standings and the playing schedule.

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All times are Central European Summer Time which is GMT (+2)

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